The Heroes of Asgard, Part One: The Magic Begins (a ReedsyCast story)

Hi.

My name is Carolina Shaw.

If you feel like you might be one of us, turn away. Trust me, you don’t want this life.

Still reading?

Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Let me just say, Algebra classes are dumb.

You mess around with x and y for long enough, and you start to ponder why it matters. I mean, the only jobs a person would have that they would need this for are being a math teacher or a scientist. I don’t plan to become either. Just sayin’.

I look to the other side of the table, just because I’m bored, and see a girl named Nainika. I never really knew her, but recently the teacher changed seating, putting me next to her. We’ve never exchanged more than a few words.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey.” She said, not even looking up from her paper.

“Do you like this stuff?”

“No.” She said, raising her head up to look at me. “I just do it because I know I have to do it eventually.”

“That’s fair.” I said.

“Yeah.”

“So, what are your hobbies?” I asked.

“My hobbies?” She thought for a moment, then said, “I really like to cook.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Since she was new this year, I decided to ask, “Where are you from? I noticed that you’re new here.”

“Vanaheim.”

“Where is that?”

“Off Yggridasil, the World’s Tree.”

“You mean the Vanaheim of Norse Mythology?”

She nods.

“Wow! That’s really cool! Did you ever meet any gods?”

“Yeah. I met Frey once. He was summery.”

“Oh. That’s cool.”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, you want to eat lunch with me and my friends?”

“Huh?” She looks back up from her paper. “Sure.”

The bell rang, and I walked out of the Algebra class, and to my locker to where my friend Addison was waiting.

“Hey.” I said, and offered my hand for a secret handshake.

She obliged, and said, “How has your day been?”

“Eh, so so. You?”

“Same.”

“Oh, and by the way, we’ll be having someone new sitting with us at lunch today.”

“Oh?”

“Have you met Nainika Gupta?”

“Oh, yeah! She seems cool.”

“Good.” I close my locker. “See you at lunch.”

In science class, we were doing chemistry. Can I just say, I dislike science almost as much as I dislike chemistry.

Mrs. Lewis tries to make it fun, but sometimes she falls short. Who can make learning the periodic table fun?

I looked over at my lab partner, Luke Howard. We didn’t hang out much, he was a popular kid, and I was...not. He hung out with his friends, Jennifer Smith, Celeste Majikku Kocho, and Maya Emerson. Not usually anyone else.

We didn’t usually talk unless we had to, we were just so different. 

Eventually, he looked over at me and said, “Hey. Did you hear about the pit?”

I looked over. “What pit?”

“There’s a huge sinkhole on the other side of town. Happened and unearthed some radioactive stuff, supposedly.”

“Interesting.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. We’re gonna go later. You want to come?”

“Eh,” I said. “I’ll think on that and get back to you.”

“Oh, come on.”

“I didn’t say no, I said I’ll think about it.”

Although I was really thinking no.

At lunch that day, I found my Addison and Nainika at the lunch table.

“Sorry,” I said. “I got caught up.”

“Yeah.” Addison said.

We ate our lunch, playing get to know you games. Of course, me and Addison knew each other well, but Nainika was new, so we wanted to get to know her better, of course.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luke get up from his table. He casually strolled across the cafeteria like he owned the place.

“Hey, Shaw,” He said. “Think about that offer yet?”

Addison and Nainika looked at me, eyebrows raised. 

“Yeah, I decided I’m good.” I said.

“Wait, what offer?” Addison asked.

“He wants me to go to ‘The Pit’ with him and his friends later.”

“The Pit?” Nainika asked. “There is definitely something paranormal about that place, I can tell. It gives off vibes.”

“Why not, Shaw?” Luke taunted in front of the entire cafeteria. Everyone had stopped to watch. “Scared?”

“No!” I said, clenching a spork in my closed fist. “Fine, I’ll go, but only if my friends can come with me.”

“Sure.” Luke smiled. “The more, the merrier.”

He sauntered back to his table, and the cafeteria unfroze.

The cold wind whipped my jacket.

“We shouldn’t have come. I knew they would flake and make us look like fools.” I said.

“Not necessarily.” Nainika said. “Look.”

A group of figures appeared on the horizon. I sighed.

Addison put her hand on my shoulder. “Hey, it’ll be fine.”

“I hope so.” I mumbled.

“Hey, Shaw!” Luke called. “Glad you came!”

I whispered to Nainika, “Can we go now?”

“No,” She whispered back. “I need to investigate this.”

I sighed.

And we walked to the edge of the crater.

A wind blew out of the sinkhole and up into my face, ruffling my hair around. That was obviously where all the wind had come from, and it was swirling around the sinkhole.

Nainika licked her finger and held it up, like she was testing the wind. She made an unsure face and brought it back down.

“See, not so bad!” Luke said. “Now, who wants to go down?”

“I’ll pass.” I said, shivering from the cold wind.

“Oh, come on, Shaw.”

I groaned. “Fine.”

All seven of us trudged into the pit. I thought I heard a bush rustle, but when I turned around, there was nothing.

Luke smiled. “See, this isn’t so ba-”

All of a sudden, an ultraviolet light fills the space of the sinkhole. We are all blown backwards by an unseen force.

And the world goes black.

“Carolina! Wake up!” My mom shouts.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I looked around. I was in my room.

How did I get here?

“Mom?” I said.

“Yes, honey?”

“What time did I get back yesterday?”

She pauses, and thinks. “About four-ish. You came in, said you were tired. And you went to sleep.”

Why do I not remember?

“Um, thanks.” I say, and get ready.

I find Nainika in the hallways at school.

“What happened yesterday afternoon?”

She rubbed her forehead and clenched her eyes shut. “I don’t know, Carolina, but it’s weird. It’s like a time burp that everyone seems to remember but us.”

I giggled. “Time burp.”

Just then, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I turned around, and Luke was standing there.

“Hello?” I said.

“What happened yesterday?”

“A time burp.”

“What?” He said with a confused look.

“Ask Nainika,” I said as the bell rang. “Bye.”

Lunch. All seven of us ate together, trying to figure out what had happened.”

“I-” Luke started, but then went rigid.

“Luke?” Celeste said. “Hellloooo?” She waved a hand in front of his face.

Jennifer shook him. “Luke?”

He took a big breath, and disappeared into a cloud of blue light.

“Luke?!” We all said at once.

“Where did he go?” Addison asked, looking under the table. The rest of the cafeteria thankfully hadn’t noticed our predicament.

Nainika glanced around the cafeteria, her eyes narrowed.

Just then, the blue light returned, and Luke reappeared in the same spot.

“Luke!” We all said at the same time.

“Whoa. That was weird.” He said, rubbing his eyes like he had just woken up from a nap.

“Where did you go?” I asked.

“Atlas Shrugged.”

“What’s that?” Addison asked.

Luke drew in a breath, ready to fight/explain it, but before he could, Jennifer did.

“It’s an old book he likes. By Ayn Rand. It’s dystopian.”

“Oh.” Addison said.

“It is not old!” argued Luke. “When you say old, you imply it's not good anymore. Atlas Shrugged will never die!”

“Ohhkkkaayyy,” I said. “Reel it in. What do you mean when you say that, though?”

“I was in the world of Atlas Shrugged. Like, all the characters were there, and I was there with them. I met them.”

“Wow.” I said. “Do you guys think this has anything to do with-”

I looked up. “Maya. What are you doing?”

Maya had been tossing a milk up in the air. Now, it hung suspended in midair.

“I don’t know.” She said. “That is really weird.”

“Great time for carving numbers into our eyes.” Celeste and Jennifer said at the same time.

Celeste looked over at her. “How did you know I was going to say that?”

“I dunno.” Said Jennifer, looking at her hands.

Nainika fell backwards as a wolf came running in and jumped on her chest. The wolf snarled, and it had grey fur with odd purple tips.

“Nainika!” I said, and the air became thick with ozone.

“Whoa, Carolina, chill. This is my pet wolf. And how are you doing that?”

“Doing what?” I looked down at my body. Electricity crackled across my clothes, wreathing my body in light.

“Ahhhh! Get it off!” I tried to brush it off, but it just wouldn’t go.

“Oh, no.” Nainika said.

“Oh no, what?” Celeste asked.

“That sinkhole, yesterday.” She said. “The light. It was from one of the other eight realms.”

“Realms?” I said. “What?”

“Realms,” Nainika said, “Are the different worlds, different branches of Yggdrasil. There’s Midgard, that's here. The human realm. Then there’s Vanaheim, where I’m from. The home of the Vanir, or summery gods. Frey, Freya, et cetera. Then, there’s Asgard, the home of the Aesir. Thor, Odin, Tyr, et cetera. And no, Thor does not look like Chris Hemsworth and he does not have an Australian accent. He gets quite angry when people even vaguely suggest that. Anyway, Alfheim, home of the Light Elves. Then, there's Jotunheim, home of the Jotuns, or giants. Nivadellir, home of the dwarves, Niflheim, the realm of ice, fog, and mist. Muspellheim, home of the fire giants and demons. And finally, Helheim, home of the goddess Hel and the dishonorable dead. And no, she does not want to destroy Asgard.”

I brushed my hands together. “Well, all my questions are answered.”

“Anyway,” She continued, “We got our powers when the Bifrost opened within close proximity of us, which is amazing that we didn’t disintegrate. A god gave us these powers, and gods only do good things for mortals when they want something.”

“So, we should hear from a god soon?” I ask. “With a mission or something?”

“Precisely.”

“Whoa.”

“Yeah, it’s strange. So, soon-”

HEROES, a voice boomed. GOOD TO KNOW MY EXPERIMENT WORKED.

And then everything turned colorful, and the world dissolved.